Kansas to ask for another NCLB waiver

Kansas education officials said they are poised to ask for another waiver from the constraints of the No Child Left Behind legislation that will require all of the nation's school-children to be proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014.

On Monday, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced more flexibility soon will be granted to states to meet adequate yearly progress targets under NCLB.

Diane DeBacker, Kansas education commissioner, told members of the Kansas State Board of Education on Tuesday that while federal education officials earlier this year turned down Kansas' waiver request to hold proficiency targets at 2009-10 levels, she said state education officials will reapply for a waiver, once Duncan releases the criteria in September.

"He wants to grant waivers to those states who are willing to be accountable," DeBacker said. "We're in good shape for what they're asking for."

DeBacker pointed to the board's adoption of common core standards for college and career readiness, the state's longitudinal student data system, and the state's willingness to use a growth model to measure students' academic progress.

Board member Ken Willard said the restrictions of No Child Left Behind have been too restrictive and Kansas should make a decision to opt out of complying with the law even with the chance of losing millions of federal dollars and regardless of whether the waiver is eventually granted.

"I feel we've prostituted ourselves. Excuse my language," he said. "It seems to me that the $110 million (in federal funds) is a small amount of money that drives everything we do. We're not going to be held hostage to the higher goals of 2014."

Other board members, however, said the risk is too high to tell the U.S. Department of Education that Kansas won't comply with No Child Left Behind like other states have done.

"We can't gamble and play Russian roulette with that federal money," said board member Jana Shaver.

Board members will receive a more detailed report in September from the state education department staff on how the NCLB waiver will be written. The U.S. Department of Education also is expected to release what criteria states should use to apply for their waivers.

Angela Deines can be reached at (785) 295-1285 or angela.deines@cjonline.com.

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NCLB has got to go. I understand why it was developed but it is going to hurt education in the long run, not help it. Under NCLB, every teacher is expected not to educate our children, but test-prep them for the next evaluation. The lower students will take up the most of the teachers time. They will do everything they can to get them to the point they can pass the next test, no matter if they understand it or not. The rest of the class gets less and less teacher time and is pushed just far enough to make sure they pass the test. The above-average children in the class get...nothing. The teachers don't have time to work with them or challenge them to move forward and, because they can pass the next reading/math assessments, there's no reason for the teacher to do so. What you end up with is a lot of average students. They should rename it No Child Allowed to Excel.

NCLB was well-intended but based on lies GW Bush and Former Sec Paige concocted about the Houston "miracle." There are good school improvement models, and public schools should be pressured to improve and to serve all students' needs. NCLB is not the way to do it, however.http://nochildleft.com/2003/sum03wmd.html